Step 2: Making the rig

Draw on a piece of wood a grid with the lines 12,5 mm apart. (12 or 13 or whatever will also do, but I did 12,5) Draw at least 4 lines horizontally and 4 lines vertically. (I did more, because you'll never know what plans I will have in the future) You will now have 16 crossings. Drill some 5 mm holes (if your LEDs are 5 mm) at the crossings of the lines. If you first drill small holes, the location of your holes will probably be more exact.
This plank with 16 holes will be the rig for your soldering.

Step 3: Bending the legs of the LEDs

First I bended the legs of 16 LED's. Hold the led upside-down diagonally, with the short leg in the upper left and the long leg in the lower right. Bend the cathode (short leg) to the left and the anode (long leg) down. So the flat part on the side of the LED wil be in the upper-left corner (the film and pictures will make this more clear I hope).

i think i may have soldered the third layer down to the second layer incorrectly. i soldered the anodes of the third layer to the cathodes of the second. That meant i had to turn the third layer 90 degrees clockwise instead of counter clockwise as your instructions say. I'm not sure what i did wrong

I double checked polarity. Everything seems correct. double checked resisters. Using 100 ohm as per led calculator for 3v@20mah leds at 5v+. Every led is functioning at some point. i can't seem to figure it out:/

Very informative instructable. I'm trying to duplicate your work here. I've finished the cube as far as i can tell, but the top 2 layers only light up to half of the brightness and do not seem to follow the rest of the patterns of the first 2 layers. I've double checked everything i can think of (anode touching cathode, wire disconnected, short... ) im still new to arduino so any help would be appreciated

I can't think of any reason that would happen except the things you already checked. You could check the values of your resistors and the polarity of the LED's although I don't really think that would be it. When I think of something smarter I will let you know.Sorry I can't be of better assistance at this moment.

Any Arduino board would work, but to start with I would choose the UNO or leonardo. The (old) Duemilanove would also work fine.I would advise you to start with some simple playing with LED's and sensors before you try this more complex LED-cube. Adafruit (http://www.adafruit.com) and Oomlout (http://www.oomlout.com) have some great tutorials.If you have already some electronics experience and you understand what multiplexing and charlyplexing is about, this project will not be a problem for you.Have fun!

ya i have done some led project in clg,so m trying this one. I m not understanding the concept of top corner four sensors led n how are its connection so plz help me out with it and m using blue led for 1st &4th layer and green for 2nd &3rd layer let me know weather its ok or not. n thanks for previous reply

The color you use is up to you. Just be sure to use the right resistors to go with your LED's.It might help to look at this ible to understand the tot corner LED's: http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-as-lightsensor-on-the-arduino/This YouTube clip might also be helpful:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzh4xMi0l2Y

i just completed my cube but the problem is,when the rotational function comes the LED's become very dim n the fourth layer is also not glowing.i used 560ohm resister let me know weather its correct for green n blue led or not. i under stood the sensor part Thanks for that...

The resistor can be different for every type and brand of LED. If you can find a datasheet with your LED's, this might help. Otherwise just ask your supplier what resistor should go with your LED's for a 5 volt supply.

The only thing I can think of is that you use the wrong resistor. The LED's will never be in full brightness because they are not burning full time but blinking very fast. (faster then the eye can see) but they should not burn dim.

also i have another question, i dont know if you are going to know this but with my arduino uno came a nother board that mounts on top of the arduino with the arduino ports. do you know what that board is for or if i should even use it? i tried serching for it on the internet but couldnt find anything

i did the first two layers succesfull, but im having trouble with the 3rd and 4th. i dont quite understand what you mean by the corner LED's. on mine i didnt finish reading the instructions so i did the 4th layer like i did the first one. How can i fix this and how to i hook it up properly

When you didn't leave out the top corner led's, you will end up with a normal 4x4x4 LED-cube without the interactivity aspect of it. If you do want the interactivity, you will need to desolder the corner led's and resume as instructed. The four top corner led's need to be totally separate from the rest of the cube.

If you leave out the sensors, it will make your code much easier. You can delete everything in the void loop() and replace it by code that will test your button(s) and then calls one of the four splash voids.

About This Instructable

Bio:I'm a social-worker, working with 12 - 23 year-olds. I used to be a printer and I worked voluntarily in Romania for a couple of years. One day a week I have a toy-store in technical toys. I have this ...read more »